The Massachusetts men’s basketball team was in the zone Saturday night against Marist – a 1-2-2 zone to be exact. Fortunately for the Minutemen, it’s the type of zone that will flummox a Red Fox.

Known for its touch from the outside, Marist came into the game with already 25 three-pointers banked in three games, a stat backed by its 46.3 shooting percentage from behind the arc.

But coach Steve Lappas and his assistants figured during their eight-day layoff (after a 66-60 win over Arkansas-Little Rock in the season opener) that settling into a trap-hungry zone defense might baffle the Red Foxes and their long-range luster.

Essentially, that plan worked. Flustered by converging Minutemen in dead zones on the court, Marist managed only 17 first half points on 5-of-23 shooting (3-for-14 from three-point range).

“We just didn’t do a good job of executing early,” said Red Foxes mentor Dave Magarity, whose 3-1 Marist squad succumbed for the first time this season. “I think their trapping – their deep sideline traps, their baseline corner traps – really got us out of sync and they did a real good job of keeping us off balance early.”

For most of the night, Anthony Anderson began defensive sets at the top of the key for the Minutemen, Shannon Crooks and Willie Jenkins guarded the wings, while Micah Brand and Kitwana Rhymer protected the blocks.

With that lineup – in the 1-2-2 setup – it is Anderson’s job to force the point guard to one side (say, the side of Crooks and Rhymer) of the court. After that, several things can happen. If the opponent stays high enough, Anderson can follow him to one side and wait for Crooks to commit or he can immediately pass the man off and settle back down to the free throw line. If the switch is successful and a pass is made deeper into the corner, then a trap should come from the grouping of Crooks and Rhymer.

If the ball is reversed around the key, Anderson pops back up top, making sure the ball isn’t sent right back to the passer, Jenkins takes control of the wing, and Brand prepares to converge if the ball creeps down far enough. Accordingly, Rhymer slides into the middle of the paint, and Crooks drops to the weak-side.

“Once we make our proper rotations and we just hustle, the zone works,” said Kitwana Rhymer who led the UMass defense with seven rebounds, four blocks and one steal. “That’s basically all it is for a zone. You just have to make your proper rotations, just hustle to every spot and just scramble when you have to.”

The UMass personnel fit nicely into the 1-2-2 set. Difficult to penetrate, the defense works best when a team features agile big men because the post players are often required to cover more distance in guarding responsibilities both at the hoop and to the baseline corners. Rhymer, Brand and Eric Williams all faired well in those rapid-fire positions.

“I’m really impressed with their front line guys,” Magarity said. “I think they have one of the best front lines in the Atlantic 10.

“Our post-players are starting to get a feel for things – we didn’t get a lot of scoring tonight out of them – but when you’re packing in a zone the way they were, we don’t really have a go-to-guy inside.

The UMass guards also faired well, forcing the Marist shooters into some uncomfortable heaves. And credit the Red Foxes’ final 32.7 percent shooting percentage to the fact that their point guard Sean Kennedy had trouble creating chances, mustering just five assists though adding three turnovers to the mix.

“[The UMass guards] did a good job of keeping [Kennedy] in front of them,” said Magarity, about his court coach who now has recorded a helper in 67 straight games. “He’s usually very good at getting by people. But he’s used to seeing man-to-man. A lot of teams just haven’t zoned us.”

The visitors from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. did, however, make a halftime adjustment against the Minuteman defense that brought them to within striking distance at the 10:54 mark of the second half.

Marist switched, to what Magarity called a “diamond overload” which he thought would force UMass to make trapping decisions more difficult, and spread the floor for Kennedy and give him better driving angles.

The change did wonders for the struggling Marist squad which began the final stanza with a 24-8 run to cut the Maroon and White lead to three.

“There was gray area in the mid-post, and we always had that guy open where we didn’t have him in the first half,” said Magarity, whose team outscored UMass 42-30 in the second half. “We kept saying that we couldn’t run our diamond set against their trapping defenses but as it turned out it was probably the best thing we could have done.”

Still, the Red Fox scare couldn’t complete its comeback and the Minutemen escaped with the 66-59 hold-on victory. Lappas didn’t credit the Marist revival to the breakdown of the defense though.

“I thought our problem in the second half was our offense,” he said. “This was not about our defense. I’m disappointed in the turnovers and the way we played offensively. I think our defense both games has been very good.

“I look at defensive field goal percentage,” Lappas continued. “I don’t look at the amount of points you allow. Because points allowed is a byproduct of the pace of the game. I’m looking at what people shoot against us. And if I see [Marist] shot 32 percent today and [Arkansas-Little Rock] shot 37 percent [last game], defensively we’re not going to do much better than that.”

With just over five minutes left in the game and UMass clinging to a 57-48 lead, Rhymer made the defensive play of the game for the home team. Kennedy penetrated deep into the lane and threw one up, but his attempt was tossed hard by a leaping Rhymer, a block that sent the Mullins Center into frenzy. The swat was similar to the senior’s rejection early in the second half of UMass’ opener versus UARL, which sparked a Minuteman comeback.

“I just saw the ball, so I knew I had to block it,” Rhymer said. “It seemed like it sparked something, so as long as I can change the game in any way, I feel good about it.

“He changed the game like he did last time on the defensive end,” Lappas said. “And he played well offensively too. There’s a guy you’re going to miss when he’s gone. He’s a good kid and he plays so hard.

“He can change a game. He made another one of those blocks today that just changed everything around.”